h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A word from an American, a financial expertwho lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.

“If Scotland votes for independence it will be as a socialist nation not a wealthy capitalist one. The result will be profound misery… I really don't think it is something to wish for… Already a disaster in the making… What small countries actually do these days if they aren't tax havens full of educated people (Switzerland) is indulge in one variety or the other of nepotism/theft/corruption/public sector crowding out and then collapses.”

Does this American Financial Expert have a horrid, orange comb-over?

No

I've thought of a good thing and a bad thing.

Celtic and Rangers will stop banging on about joining the English (ok and Welsh) football league.

On the flip side, we'll get Berwick Rangers back.

PP.

The good thing is average UK temperatures will rise if Scotland leaves. Shorter, milder winters and longer, warmer summers if Scotland votes Yes.

independence leads to global warming?

unfortunately the reverse will be true for an independent Scotland. Average temperatures will drop and the weather will be even more dreich.

Interesting one of the largest insurance companies in the UK Scottish based has warned it will pull out and relocate to the UK (indicating thats where the money is?)

It appears that it beleives Scotland un viable without the pound and we own 81% the RBS perhaps Scotland would be prepaired to underight the debt and buy RBS from the UK 200 billion might do it, unlikley as
Scotland could not cover that.

The question as yet unanswered is if they split will they take thair share of the national debt with them.

The other thing will be a mass exodus of economic refugees. The Red Cross and Oxfam need to make plans for a tented village over the border at Carlisle.

I'm sorry Icy, we'd love to help but I doubt Scotland could take so many Scousers.

Yes, but think about the new opportunities in the second-hand hubcap industry.

Yikes. That could seriously undermine the Glaswegian "stealing-plates-from-Ikea" industry!

That explains the new Ikea crockery lines: Krook, Swag and Pylfer

Icy - I've lived in Carlisle... they'd never notice the difference!

Someone's alerted me to this and forced me to flounce back in since I publicly flounced out out in a childish fit of pique a couple of years ago (I get the barbs in, so you don't have to folks . I was alerted by somebody that there was somebody talking his usual s***e.

So. Obviously there's be need to divide the assets. They can be shared in much the same way as France and Britain share La Manche, , Sweden and Denmark Øresundsbronen. We;ll all be visiting our friends and family both sides of the border. I've just been listening to Lee 'Scratch' Perry (A Swede, nowadays, but Jamaican born and raised) and will continue to do so whatever the outcome.

Nationalism has been rearing its head above, albeit in a trivial, banteresque way. Of course...this Independence thing isn't about Braveheart yadda yadda. My killer line is 'Well...my children are half English on their father's side.'

Oh...and yes, I know it was banter...but even more inconveniently I'm a Scouse Glaswegian of twenty three years standing. So I keep The Beatles, right? Problem with that?

My wife was at school in East Kilbride with The Reid Bros of The Jesus and Mary Chain. 'Psychocandy' is my all time favourite album: what Brian Wilson would sound like if he lived in dreich EK. And she was in the same youth club as Roddy Frame of Aztec Camera (who was always practising, practising, practising. Have them! Have them! They're wonderful.

But you can still listen to them. Or to...

John Martyn,
Dick Gaughan,
Julie Fowlis,
Bert Jansch
Belle and Sebastian
Orange Juice
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
The BMX Bandits
The Rezillos
The Associates
Deacon Blue
The Cocteau Twins
Teenage Fan Club
Primal Scream
Simple Minds (If you insist!)
Mogwai
Franz Ferginand...etc.

And you might as well check out Paolo Nutini's new subtly pro-Independence single, Iron Sky,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELKbtFljucQ

That's enough on the Music thing. We will obviously share each other's music, sold to us by music distributors, in much the same way that Standard Life's and British Airways' and Tescos' shareholders will insist that they do business unhampered in both Scotland and England, no matter how much they want to curry favour by making daft propagandistic staements on behalf of UK Gov.

The Socialist thing - well there are wonderful organisations such as The Jimmy Reid Foundation, Radical Independence Campaign and allofusfirst.org (qv! The last one is *mega*) who are pulling the body politic left - although the SNP are willingly following. Notably, in these organisations the cooperation between SSP and other socialist groups, SNP and (the very prominent and active) Greens is seemless...and there's some Scottish Labour and Trade Unions getting on board.

The high tax thing: the economic strategy will begin by creating revenue by raising wages (increased tax take: increased consumption). Nobel prizewinner Joseph Stieglitz is behind this. Although Scandiwegians are in no way discontented with their high taxes: They know they get value for money in terms of a decent society.


But really...the game plan is to become Scandinavian. Quite obviously they are going to be our big trading partners. You should see some of the business conferences I attend! We'll be working together, building on Scottish engineering expertise, on wave, tide and wind power and Arctic Rim shipping. And there is a pro-Independence group called Nordic Horizons to look at whether we can pull through anything from their socio-economic model. They get that if you have happy, healthy, well educated workers who have a participative role in industrial democracy...you can make shitloads of money.

But *must* we listen to 'kin ABBA?


End with a song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRaEX34fN_U

Nice to see you Ed

Welcome back Ed. Gracious and modest as ever I see

Hello Ed.

You just hadda mention ABBA, eh.
I hear they doing a RE-union tour.
Ah, union, glorious union.


~jwf~

Bloody foreigners.